Coupler connection for railway draft riggings



@ch 9, 1934. s. B. HASELTINE COUPLER CONNECTION FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGINGS Filed May 12, 1928 Patented Got. 9, 1934 PATENT @FFEQE COUPLER CONNECTION FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGINGS Stacy B. Haseltine, Chicago, 111., assignor to W. H.

Miner, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Del- Application May 12, 1928, Serial No. 277,229

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in coupler connections for railway draft riggings.

One object of the invention is to provide a swiveled connection for couplers of railway draft 5 riggings, including the usual yoke member, and

"it follower member and shock absorbing means within the yoke, wherein the coupler is provided with a swiveled butt member which has flat bearing engagement with the front follower, and wherein the coupler shank is centered by the coupler key which is carried by the coupler slank, through the action of the shock absorbing menus and yoke member on the key.

Another object of the invention is to provide simple and efficient means for swiveling the shank of a coupler to a railway draft rigging, wherein the parts are connected by a pivot pin and the draft forces are transmitted to the shock absorbing means of the draft rigging without sub- 20 jecting the pin to strain.

In the drawing, forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a horizontal, longitudinal, sectional view of a portion of the underframe structure of a railway car, at one end thereof, illustrating my improvements in connection therewith. And Figure 2 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional View, corresponding substantially to the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

in said drawing, ll0 indicate the usual channel-shaped center or draft sills of the railway car underfrarne, to the inner sides of which are secured front stop castings l1-11, the stop castings presenting end abutment faces 12 forming the front stop shoulders proper of the railway draft rigging. clearly shown in Figure 1, the stop castings are provided with longitudinally disposed slots 13 which register with similar slots in the draft sills and are adapted to accommodate the coupler key for sliding movement. The striking casting of the railway draft rigging, which is secured to the outer ends of the center sills, is designated by 14. The usual carry iron 15 supports the coupler shank and a wear plate 16 is interposed between the carry iron and the bottom side of the coupler shank. A yoke mem- 17, the forward end portion of which only is shown, is disposed between the draft sills, the same being of the hooded type. A shock absorbing mechanism 18, of any well known form, is disposed within the yoke. The shock absorbing mechanism illustrated in the drawing is of the friction shell type, having the usual friction shoes cooperating with the friction shell and a wedge spreading member between the shoes. A front follower 19 is also disposed within the yoke and is interposed between the wedge member of the shock absorbing means 18 and the stop members 12 of the draft sills.

The hood portion of the yoke includes spaced side walls 2020 and horizontally disposed top and bottom wells 212l, the side walls 20 being slotted, as indicated at 22, to accommodate the coupler key.

In carrying out my improvements, I provide, broadly, a coupler A, a swiveled butt block B, a pivot pin C, and a coupler key D.

The coupler A, as illustrated in the drawing, is of the type having a rearwardly tapering shank 23 and an end section having substantially parallel side walls and a rounded end wa l 24. At the top and bottom sides, the coupler shank is provided with transversely extending, curved bearing surfaces 2525, spaced forwardly from the rear end of the shank. The shank is provided with a transversely disposed coupler key receiving slot 26, which is of slightly greater width than the coupler key D.

The swiveled butt block B, which is connected to the coupler shank, is in the form of a relative-v 1y heavy block having forwardly extending, spaced, top and bottom arms 2727 which ernbrace the inner end of the coupler shank. Between the arms 27, the body portion of the block B is provided with a concave inner bearing surface 28 which cooperates with the bearing surface 24 at the inner end of the coupler shank. The front ends of the arms 2"? are provided with con vex bearing surfaces 29-29 which cooperate with the bearing surfaces 25--25 at the top and bottom sides of the coupler shank. The inner end of the coupler shank is connected to the block by' a vertically disposed pivot pin C, extending through the top and bottom arms 2"? of the block.

As most clearly shown in Figure 2, in order to maintain thepivot pin in assembled relation, the opposite ends of the same are cut away at one side, the opening in the bottom arm 27 of the block Bbeing contracted so as to fit the corre sponding end of the pin and prevent downward movement of the same.- The pin is inserted through the opening in the top arm 2'? of the block and, as shown in Figure 2, the metal adjacent the opening is cut away so as to provide a relatively thin web adjacent the opening, which may be hammered over to contract the opening and retain the pin. The pin is also held against vertical displacement by the transversely disposed coupler key D, the pin being centrally notched, as indicated at 30, to receive the corresponding edge of the coupler key.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the coupler key extends through the inner end of the coupler shank, the slots in the side walls of the yoke and also the slots of the stop castings and draft ills. The front end portion of the main body section of the butt block B is spaced inwardly from the adjacent edge of the coupler key so as to permit of the necessary lateral swinging movement of the coupler without engagement of the key with the block B. As clearly shown in Figure 1, the inner edge of the coupler key D has straightfaced engagement transversely on the inner end wall of the slot 26 of the coupler shank, and in the normal position of the parts the front edge of the key bears equally on the front end walls of the slots of the hood of the yoke.

As will be evident, relative movement of the yoke and front follower 19 is resisted by the shock absorbing means 18, and it follows that, when the coupler A is swung to either side of centered position, the inner end wall of the slot 26 of the coupler shank will rock on the key D which has the front edges bearing on the outer end walls of the slots of the yoke. The yoke will thus be pulled outwardly and the shock absorbing means will be compressed slightly and, in its tendency to return to normal expanded condition, wiil pull the yoke rearwardly, thereby swinging the coupler shank toward its centered position due to the angular relation of the inner edge of the key and the inner end wall of the slot 26, until said edge of the coupler key is again in con tinuous engagement with the inner end Wall of the slots of the coupler shank. It will thus be evident that my improved arrangement provides for positive centering of the coupler shank after each lateral swinging movement of the same.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the inner end of the butt block B of the coupler has flat bearing engagement with the front face of the main follower 19 and rocking movement of the coupler shank does not effect any rocking of the block 13 on the follower 19, because the coupler shank is swiveled to the block B.

The operation of my improved coupler connection is as follows, when a buffing action is applied to the coupler: The coupler will be forced inwardly against the butt block 13, the force being transmitted through the cooperating curved bearing surfaces 25 and 29 and the cooperating curved bearing surfaces 24 and 28 of the coupler shank and butt block B. It will thus be evident that no strain is placed on the pivot pin C during a bumng action of the mechanism.

It is further pointed out that the coupler, shank is mounted to swing freely laterally through the cooperating bearing faces on the shank and block to accommodate the rigging for operation on curved and similar track.

When a draft or pulling action is applied to the coupler A, the pull is transmitted directly through the coupler key D to the yoke 17 as the coupler key has engagement only with the shank of the coupler A and is not in any way connected 1 to the butt block B. During the movement of the coupler A, the butt block is maintained in proper assembled relation with the same by meansof the pivot pin C.

While I have herein shown and described what 'I consider the preferred manner of carrying out my invention, the same is merely illustrative and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a railway draft rigging, the combination with draft sills having front stops; of a yoke; shock absorbing means within the yoke; a front follower interposed between the shock absorbing means and front stops; a coupler having a shank provided with a connected swiveled butt member having flat bearing engagement with the front follower; and a coupler key extending through the coupler shank and having limited movement in said shank lengthwise of the latter, said key at opposite end portions thereof having shouldered engagement with the yoke to limit outward movement of the key with respect to the yoke, the rear edge of said key having extended, straight, bearing engagement with the shank of the coupler, whereby the pull of the 'shockabsorbing means on the yoke acts to center the coupler shank when the same is swung to either side of centered position.

2. In a draft rigging, the combination with spaced draft sills having front stop means thereon; of a yoke disposed between said sills; shock absorbing means within the yoke; a front follower cooperating with said front stops and shock absorbing means, said shock absorbing means yieldingly opposing movement of the yoke outwardly; a coupler having a butt member pivotally connected thereto and having flat bearing on the front follower; and means for centering the coupler shank when swung to either side of centered position, including a coupler key connected to the yoke and movable with respect to the coupler shank in a direction lengthwise of the rigging and having straight-faced bearing engagement along its rear edge with the coupler shank and shouldered engagement at opposite end portions along its front edge with the yoke, whereby the yielding pull of the shock absorbing means on the yoke acts to center the coupler shank.

3. In a railway draft rigging, the combination With spaced draft sills provided with front stops; of a yoke disposed between said sills, said yoke having side members provided with key receiving slots; a front follower within the yoke, cooperating with said front stops; shock absorbing means reacting between said front follower and yoke and yieldably resisting outward movement of the yoke; a coupler provided with a shank, said shank having a transverse key slot; a pressure-transmitting block swiveled to the shank and connected thereto for movement in unison therewith in both huh and draft and having fiat bearing engagement on the front follower; and a coupler key extending transversely of said shank through said slot and rockable toward and away from the front and rear walls of said slot of the coupler shank, said key extending through the slots of the yoke and being of a width less than the length of each of said slots of the yoke and coupler shank and normally bearing on the front walls of said slots of the yoke and at least at two points on the rear wall of the slot of the shank.

STACY B. HASELTINE. 

